THINGS FALL APART [1958] - Rodriguez Alvarez

1 1notesAchebe s Thingstr. de Fernando Santos510152025303540455055 6065 THINGS fall APART [1958]byChinua AchebeANCHOR BOOKS Anchor Books Edition, New York, 1994 Turning and turning in the widening gyreThe falcon cannot hear the falconer; THINGS fall APART ; the center cannot hold;Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world. W. B. Yeats, The Second Coming CHAPTER ONEO konkwo was well known throughoutthe nine villages and even beyond. Hisfame rested on solid personalachievements. As a young man ofeighteen he had brought honor to hisvillage by throwing Amalinze the was the great wrestler who forseven years was unbeaten, from Umuofiato Mbaino. He was called the Catbecause his back would never touch theearth. It was this man that Okonkwothrew in a fight which the old men agreedwas one of the fiercest since the founderof their town engaged a spirit of the wildfor seven days and seven drums beat and the flutes sangand the spectators held their was a wily craftsman, butOkonkwo was as slippery as a fish inwater.

2 Every nerve and every musclestood out on their arms, on their backsand their thighs, and one almost heardthem stretching to breaking point. In theend Okonkwo threw the was many years ago, twentyyears or more, and during this timeOkonkwo s fame had grown like a bush-fire in the harmattan. He was tall andhuge, and his bushy eyebrows and widenose gave him a very severe look. Hebreathed heavily, and it was said that,when he slept, his wives and children intheir houses could hear him he walked, his heels hardlyTodo se derrumbadeChinua Achebbetr. de Fernando SantosALFAGUARA, MADRID, 1986]Girando y girando en rbita crecienteEl halc n ya no oye al halconero;Todo se derrumba; el centro ya no aguanta;El mundo .re sume en la mera anarqu B. YEATS: El Segundo AdvenimientoPARTE I[15] CAPITULO IOkonkwo era muy conocido en las nue-ve aldeas e incluso m s all . Su fama sebasaba en unos xitos personales conside-rables.

3 Cuando era un muchacho de diecio-cho a os hab a dado honra a su pueblo alvencer a Amalinze El Gato. Amalinze era elgran luchador invicto desde hac a siete a os,desde Umuofia hasta Mbaino. Lo llamabanEl Gato porque nunca daba con las espal-das en tierra. Ese era el hombre al que de-rrib Okonkwo en una pelea que los ancia-nos conven an hab a sido la m s dura desdeque el fundador de su pueblo combati sie-te d as y siete noches con un genio de tambores bat an, las flautas canta-ban y los espectadores conten an el era un luchador muy astuto, peroOkonkwo era m s escurridizo que el pez enel agua. En los brazos de ambos resaltabancada nervio y cada m sculo, igual que enlas espaldas y los muslos, y casi se pod ao r c mo todo se tensaba hasta casi romper-se. Al final, Okonkwo derrib al hab a sido hac a muchos a os,veinte a os o m s, y en todo aquel tiempola fama de Okonkwo hab a crecido comoun fuego de sabana durante el alto y muy fornido, y con sus cejastupidas y su nariz anch sima ten a un as-pecto muy grave.

4 Respiraba muy hondo,y se dec a que cuando dorm a sus muje-res y sus hijos, en las casas de al lado,pod an o r su [16] respiraci n. Al andarharmattan: the dry, dusty wind that blows south fromthe Sahara in Januarywily adj. 1 crafty, cunning, dodgy, foxy, guileful,knavish, slick, sly, tricksy, tricky, wilymarked by skill in deception; cunning menoften pass for wise ; deep politicalmachinations ; a foxy scheme ; a slickevasive answer ; sly as a fox ; trickyDik ; a wily old attorney astuto, taimado2notesAchebe s Thingstr. de Fernando Santos510152025303540455055 6065touched the ground and he seemed towalk on springs, as if he was going topounce on somebody. And he did pounceon people quite often. He had a slightstammer and whenever he was angry andcould not get his words out quicklyenough, he would use his fists. He hadno patience with unsuccessful men. Hehad had no patience with his , for that was his father s name,had died ten years ago.

5 In his day he waslazy and improvident and was quiteincapable of thinking about any money came his way, and it seldomdid, he immediately bought gourds ofpalm-wine, called round his neighborsand made merry. He always said thatwhenever he saw a dead man s mouth hesaw the folly of not eating what one hadin one s lifetime. Unoka was, of course,a debtor, and he owed every neighborsome money, from a few cowries to quitesubstantial was tall but very thin and had aslight stoop. He wore a haggard andmournful look except when he wasdrinking or playing on his flute. He wasvery good on his flute, and his happiestmoments were the two or three moons afterthe harvest when the village musiciansbrought down their instruments, hungabove the fireplace. Unoka would playwith them, his face beaming withblessedness and peace. Sometimes anothervillage would ask Unoka s band and theirdancing egwugwu to come and stay withthem and teach them their tunes.

6 Theywould go to such hosts for as long asthree or four markets, making music andfeasting. Unoka loved the good hire andthe good fellowship, and he loved thisseason of the year, when the rains hadstopped and the sun rose every morningwith dazzling beauty. And it was not toohot either, because the cold and dryharmattan wind was blowing downIrom the north. Some years the harmattanwas very severe and a dense haze hungon the atmosphere. Old men and childrenwould then sit round log fires, warmingtheir bodies. Unoka loved it all, and heloved the first kites that returned withthe dry season, and the children who sangsongs of welcome to them. He wouldremember his own childhood, how hehad often wandered around looking fora kite sailing leisurely against the bluesky. As soon as he found one he wouldsing with his whole being, welcoming itback from its long, long journey, andasking it if it had brought home anylengths of si tocaba el suelo con los talonesy parec a andar sobre muelles, como siestuviera a punto de lanzarse sobre al-guien.

7 Y es verdad que muchas veces selanzaba sobre la gente. Era algo tartamu-do, y cuando se enfadaba y no pod a de-cir las cosas tan r pido como quer a, em-pleaba los pu os. No soportaba a los fra-casados. No soportaba a su , pues as se llamaba su padre, ha-b a muerto hac a diez a os. Toda su vidahab a sido mal proveedor y perezoso, y eratotalmente incapaz de pensar en el ma ten a alg n dinero, cosa nada frecuente,inmediatamente se compraba calabazas devino de palma, llamaba a los vecinos y sedivert a. Siempre dec a que cuando le ve ala boca a un muerto comprend a lo tontoque era no comer lo que se pod a en , naturalmente, ten a deudas, y le de-b a algo de dinero a cada uno de los veci-nos, desde unos cuantos caur es hasta can-tidades alto, pero muy delgado y andabaalgo encorvado. Ten a siempre un gestosombr o y apesadumbrado, salvo cuandoestaba bebiendo o tocando la flauta. To-caba muy bien la flauta, y cuando mejorlo pasaba era durante las dos o tres lunassiguientes a la cosecha, cuando los m si-cos de la aldea bajaban los instrumentosque ten an colgados encima de la chime-nea.

8 Unoka tocaba con ellos, con la cararadiante de felicidad y de paz. A veces otraaldea ped a a la banda de Unoka y a susbailarines egwugwu que fueran a pasarunos d as con ellos y les ense aran susmelod as. Se iban a pasar con esos anfi-triones hasta tres o cuatro mercados, yhac an m sica y fiestas. A Unoka le en-cantaban la buena comida y la buena com-pa a, y le encantaba la estaci n del a oen que cesaban las lluvias y el sol sal atodas las ma anas con una belleza des-lumbrante. Y tampoco hac a calor, porquedel norte llegaba el viento fr o y seco delharmattan. Algunos a os el harmattan eramuy fuerte y el aire se llenaba de una es-pesa niebla. Entonces los ancianos y losni os se sentaban en torno a las hogueras[17] para calentarse. A Unoka le encantabatodo, y le encantaban los primeros milanosque volv an con la estaci n seca y los ni osque les cantaban canciones de su propia infancia, c mo muchasveces se echaba a andar a ver si ve a un mi-lano planeando calmadamente en el cieloazul.

9 En cuanto ve a uno se pon a a can-tar con toda su alma para darle la bienve-nida de su largu simo viaje, y le pregun-taba si a su regreso hab a tra do unas va-ras de pa : a masquerader who impersonates one ofthe ancestral spirits of the villageegwugwu a masked dancer who impersonates a spiritin Ibo ritualsharmattan: the dry, dusty wind that blows south fromthe Sahara in Januarygourd: the hard skin of around fruit, used as adrinking vesselpalm-wine an intoxicating drink made by fermentingthe sap of the oil-palmcowries a type of sea-shell, formerly used as moneyin West Africakite a large scavenging bird of the hawk kindleisurely 1 lento, pausado; at a ~ pace sin prisas 2relajado: let s take a leisurely stroll, demos un pa-seo sin prisas 3 adv. tranquilamente3notesAchebe s Thingstr. de Fernando Santos510152025303540455055 6065 That was years ago, when he wasyoung. Unoka, the grown-up, was afailure. He was poor and his wife andchildren had barely enough to laughed at him because he was aloafer, and they swore never to lend himany more money because he never paidback.

10 But Unoka was such a man that healways succeeded in borrowing more,and piling up his day a neighbor called Okoyecame in to see him. He was reclining ona mud bed in his hut playing on the immediately rose and shook handswith Okoye, who then unrolled thegoatskin which he carried under his arm,and sat down. Unoka went into an innerroom and soon returned with a smallwooden disc containing a kola nut, somealligator pepper and a lump of whitechalk. I have kola, he announced when hesat down, and passed the disc over to hisguest. Thank you. He who brings kolabrings life. But I think you ought tobreak it, replied Okoye, passing backthe disc. No, it is for you, I think, and theyargued like this for a few moments beforeUnoka accepted the honor of breaking thekola. Okoye, meanwhile, took the lumpof chalk, drew some lines on the floor,and then painted his big he broke the kola, Unokaprayed to their ancestors for life andhealth, and for protection against theirenemies.